A difference between life and death

IT’S April 2002. On a train in Switzerland, Mary Lawlor takes a call on her mobile. The caller is an Irish missionary and human rights defender Brendan Forde, calling from a satellite phone in Colombia, is in trouble.

His life is in danger.

Immediately she calls the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin. Diplomats there scramble to establish contact with other EU governments and very quickly the Colombian government starts receiving diplomatic requests from the Irish Embassy in Mexico backed up by other EU consulates.